2004 Steelers Defeat Both Super Bowl Teams

[LeonardRachiele]

Philadelphia in 2008 found itself in the same position as the Pittsburgh Steelers four years earlier.  The Steelers beat both Super Bowl bound teams, at home, and lost to one of them in the AFC Championship. We have already discussed the sad ending for the Eagles in the desert to the Arizona Cardinals.  2004 was the second of three chances in the last decade that we missed a chance for an all Pennsylvania Super Bowl.

Week 7.  The New England Patriots came to Pittsburgh at 6-0 while the Steelers were 5-1.   Pittsburgh was ahead 24 to 3 in the second quarter.  Ben Rothisberger threw two touchdown passes to Plaxico Burress and Deshea Townsend returned an interception 39 yards for a touchdown.  Trailing by three touchdowns,  New England had to virtually abandon the ground game.  Tom Brady went 25 of 43 for 271 yards and two touchdowns.  Both went to David Givens, who caught eight for 101 yards.  The Patriots gained only five yards on the ground all day, while the Steelers had 221.

Meanwhile Ben Rothisbeger completed 16 of 24 passes including the two touchdown passes to Burress just mentioned.  Former Eagle Duce Staley gained 125 yards on 25 carries.  The Steelers got four turnovers and four sacks while New England had nothing in either category. Tom Brady never gave up and threw a late touchdown pass.  The Steelers defeated the New England Patriots 34 to 20.
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Week 8.  The Philadelphia Eagles came to Pittsburgh at  7-0 while the Steelers were 6-1.  Pittsburgh quickly went ahead 21  to 0.  Hines Ward scored two touchdowns, one on an end run and another on a 16 yards pass from Ben Rothisberger.  Rothisberger then threw a touchdown pass to Jay Riemersma.  With the Eagles trailing 21 to 3 at halftime, they had to rely soley on the passing game, which did not work well either.  Donovan McNabb was 15 for 24 for 109 yards.   Philadelphia had only seven first downs and  23 yards rushing.  For the Steelers, Rothisberger completed  18 of 25 passes for 182 yards and those two touchdowns.  The Steelers rushed for 252 yards with Jerome Bettis carrying 33 times for 149 yards.   The second half was slower with Pittsburgh kicking two field goals.  Final Steelers 27 Eagles 3.